Chapter 46: The Submissive, Obsessive Top Student

The sky was dim, and in the cramped car compartment, after a long period of darkness, someone finally tried to fumble for the car light. Halfway through, Shi Qingyi intercepted her, gripping her wrist. Her voice carried a hint of hoarseness: “Don’t turn it on…”

Jiang Zhiyi obeyed smoothly, nestling back into her embrace. She rested her head against Shi Qingyi’s shoulder blade, her fingers tracing down her neck in a trail of delicate kisses. Her voice held a mix of heartache and anger: “You’ve gotten so thin…”

Shi Qingyi fell silent for a moment before teasing her: “Because you didn’t take good care of me…”

She glanced at how other people kept their canaries.

“You lived so carefree abroad for a few years, how come—” Jiang Zhiyi’s hurtful words were cut off. Shi Qingyi didn’t want to hear them. She leaned down to kiss her, stunning her completely.

The phone rang inopportunely. Jiang Zhiyi reached out to hang up, but Shi Qingyi stopped her. On the other end, the caller kept apologizing for being late due to the rain. The cake and pastries had already been delivered downstairs to the company. They asked if she was still there. They’d just checked with the night-shift security guard, who said everyone had clocked out.

At the end, they added that it wouldn’t taste good if left out too long.

Shi Qingyi lowered her eyes and asked her: “For whom?”

Jiang Zhiyi knew she was asking despite knowing the answer but indulged her anyway. Hugging her, she panted softly into her ear: “For you.”

Satisfied with the response, Shi Qingyi kissed her sweat-dampened forehead, straightened her clothes, and prepared to open the car door. Jiang Zhiyi refused to let go. Her eyes gleamed in the darkness, as if coated in a layer of hazy moisture.

The more Shi Qingyi looked, the more off it seemed. She went back, pulled her clothes properly into place, covering her neck and shoulders before stepping out.

It was still raining outside, though lighter than before. Under a nearby landscaped tree, there was a faint trail of bloodstains. Her eyes darkened, and she deliberately avoided it.

They had watched the argument between Jiang Zhiqing and Gu Chuanjing clearly from inside the car, but neither had the mind to intervene. If she had shown even a hint of interest back then, Jiang Zhiyi would have bitten her to death on the spot.

When the pastries were handed to her, they were still slightly warm. She thanked the shop staff who had delivered them in the middle of the night and returned to find the car window open. Jiang Zhiyi leaned against it, quietly watching her.

That gaze carried a ghostly gleam, stirring an unconscious sense of crisis in her heart amid the pitch-black night.

“Aren’t you cold?” She rolled up the window. Of course it was chilly with the rain falling late at night, and she was dressed so thinly.

It was nearly eleven. Shi Qingyi sat in the driver’s seat. Jiang Zhiyi took the exquisitely packaged gift box and asked her: “Won’t you open one to see if you like it?”

“We’ll eat when we get home. It’s almost eleven. You have to get up early for work tomorrow.” She no longer worked for free for her dad and could idle at home, but Manager Jiang, now worth over a billion, couldn’t laze around watching movies with her like before.

Jiang Zhiyi opened it herself when she refused. The packaging was exquisite, and the aroma of the pastries filled the car. She picked one and held it to Shi Qingyi’s lips: “Is it good? I remember you loved this flavor back then.”

Shi Qingyi took a reserved bite. Three years later, she still remembered her tastes so clearly. A pang of heartache welled up in her, and she nodded lightly: “It’s good.”

The woman’s eyes curved at the answer. Under Shi Qingyi’s gaze, she fed the rest into her own mouth, deliberately biting where Shi Qingyi had: “Mm, it really is good…”

Shi Qingyi: “…”

There was still some distance from the company to home. As Shi Qingyi drove, the person beside her fed her from the passenger seat. The pastries were small and delicate, finishable in three bites. For the ones Shi Qingyi liked, she got two bites; for the ones she didn’t, just a taste.

Shi Qingyi endured for a long time but finally didn’t ask why she had to try each type first, as if testing for mistakes.

She had a premonition that asking would earn Jiang Zhiyi’s grudge—

After returning home and washing up, Jiang Zhiyi began hugging her like a giant human pillow. Fresh from her wash, she carried a gentle fragrance in her hair. Shi Qingyi hesitated for a while before reaching out to her residual limb.

“Does it hurt?”

The severed limb couldn’t grow back. After the high amputation, the wound had long scarred over. She touched it through her nightgown, afraid of hurting her.

Regardless of whether Jiang Zhiyi had truly been bullied, falling to the ground was real. She had indeed seen her leg get scraped.

The person who had seemed so relaxed moments ago tensed slightly in the back. She paused, then took Shi Qingyi’s hand and placed it on her lower back, quietly shrinking into her embrace: “It hurts here…”

Shi Qingyi choked, momentarily unsure if she was hinting. Her face flushed bit by bit, heating up unusually fast in the summer night.

The window was open, only the sound of rain on the treetops and the faint hum of the AC. Sensing something, Jiang Zhiyi reached out tentatively to stroke her cheek. It was burning hot.

“Sitting in the wheelchair all day made my waist and back ache.” It was an explanation, and true. Shi Qingyi’s hand rubbed her waist and back through the thin nightshirt. When it felt good, she let out an involuntary hum, making someone’s cheeks burn even more.

“Don’t…”

Jiang Zhiyi pressed her advantage: “Don’t what? It’s just a waist massage…”

She breathed warmly against her ear, chuckling muffledly: “What were you thinking?”

Jiang Zhiyi was sometimes excessively thin-skinned, but shockingly thick-skinned with Shi Qingyi. Shi Qingyi fell silent for a while, then sulkily scooted to the other side of the bed, refusing to come closer.

The one who had only meant to tease but went too far: “…”

She silently scooted over, hugging her waist from behind and biting her shoulder, playing aggrieved first: “Are you so unwilling to share a bed with me?”

She sounded so righteous. Shi Qingyi was speechless but finally turned back, patted her head, and said goodnight.

In the night, waiting until Jiang Zhiyi fell asleep, Shi Qingyi opened her eyes, somewhat worried. Jiang Zhiyi was always like this—anxious about gains and losses. One moment warm and dependent, the next imagining the worst if anything went slightly wrong.

She reached out, tapped the woman’s forehead, brushed aside her stray hairs, revealing the wound at her temple. The tapped person leaned closer, unwilling to part even in the sweltering summer.

That car accident meant many things to Jiang Zhiyi—not just the limb loss, but numerous bodily sequelae. Since reuniting with Shi Qingyi, they’d been intimate only once, in the car without lights. Normally, no matter how inconvenient, she wouldn’t let Shi Qingyi see.

Glass shards had pierced her body, leaving many wounds that still required hospital check-ups.

Cicadas woke Shi Qingyi. She didn’t have work lately and slept until she naturally woke. Perhaps from nonstop AC, her throat was sore. Half-squinting, she groped for water by the bed but found none—instead, a warm body.

Someone had already placed water in her hand. Shi Qingyi was dazed for a moment before turning her head. The woman with chestnut long hair draped over her shoulders, half-covered by the thin blanket hiding her lower body. To let her sleep more, she hadn’t drawn the curtains, only lit a small lamp. She was reading a document, her profile outlined gently yet gauntly by the white nightshirt.

“You didn’t go to work today?” Shi Qingyi blinked, propping herself up for a sip. Normally, Jiang Zhiyi would have left for the company by then.

Jiang Zhiyi was getting better at catching her slips. Her delicate brows furrowed: “Are you unhappy I’m home?”

How could I dare? Shi Qingyi sighed inwardly, finally coming around. She sipped the warm water—tempered just right, as if prepared knowing her habits.

Jiang Zhiyi had a hospital check-up today. She was usually too busy for time off; hospital visits counted as rare vacations. Shi Qingyi insisted on going along and ended up sitting with her in the back seat.

Taking over the entire Jiang Family made President Jiang genuinely swamped. Even in the car, she reviewed documents, as if endless files and tasks awaited her day and night.

After last night’s heavy rain, the morning was clear and mild. Midway through reading, President Jiang had an earbud popped into her ear by someone. Shi Qingyi played on her phone, carefully selecting songs.

For some reason, Jiang Zhiyi suddenly blurted: “No more English listening practice for me?”

Her tone was aggrieved yet laced with unspoken amusement. Shi Qingyi paused, glanced at her documents, and sighed: “Too bad business secrets can’t be recorded as audio for President Jiang.”

Jiang Zhiyi’s fingertips twitched. She closed the file, leaned close to share the song. It was as if years slipped away; they were girls again, biggest worries being unanswered questions from class.

They went to Sixth Hospital, the city’s best. An expert old doctor consulted there exclusively, refusing to leave even for Jiang Zhiyi, who had booked ahead.

When they arrived, the previous patient wasn’t done. The nurse apologized, saying the case was complex and might take time. Shi Qingyi pushed her downstairs to the little park for a stroll.

The gardenias were blooming perfectly. As Shi Qingyi wheeled her over, noise erupted behind. Someone was crying out. She turned toward the sound and saw a third-floor window wide open. A woman in a white patient gown hugged her knees on the sill, her thin shoulders trembling with sobs.

Jiang Zhiyi clenched her hand the instant she saw. Her eyes darkened, lost in some thought.

The woman on the balcony was delirious. Her oversized white gown billowed. Half her body dangled over the edge, liable to fall anytime.

A man in a black suit shouted her name urgently from behind: “Zhiqing, come down first, okay? We can talk about the rest later. Come down—”

Gu Chuanjing inched closer, trying to pull her down. But she just cried, sobbing and shaking her head at his voice: “No, don’t come near me.”

“Zhiqing, we’ll have other babies later—you come down first, and we’ll talk, okay? Zhiqing, be good…”

The floor wasn’t high, just three stories. Jiang Zhiyi looked up and met her tear-blurred gaze.

Jiang Zhiyi’s heart jolted. The woman on the balcony seemed to find salvation. Tears poured down her face.

She stretched her arms downward, lips moving. In that instant, Shi Qingyi heard her through the system. She said:

“Sis, the baby’s gone…”